Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, Atiku Abubakar, has described the judiciary as truly the defender of Nigeria’s democracy.
Atiku Abubakar made the assertion while responding to the verdict of the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal, which on Friday declared PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, as winner of the September 22 election in Osun State.
Abubakar, in a statement by his Media Aide, Mr Paul Ibe, on Friday in Abuja, said that the judgement indicated that indeed the judiciary was the last refuge for the common man.
The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja had on Friday declared Adeleke winner.
The three-member panel said during its ruling that the re-run election that held on September 27, 2018, was illegal.
The tribunal, therefore, deducted the votes scored by the APC candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, in the rerun after declaring the re-run illegal.
The tribunal said Adeleke won the election at the first ballot on September 22 and the re-run that INEC devised to reach a final conclusion a week later was illegal.
“The declaration of Oyetola is null and void,” the tribunal ruled in a majority decision with one member dissenting
Abubakar added that it was also an indication that in truth, “those who are aggrieved and resolved to maintain the peace have been vindicated.’’
He congratulated Adeleke, the PDP and men and women of goodwill in Osun, who according to him did not waver in their commitment to retrieve their mandate.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy has come for the people of Osun,” he said.
Abubakar also commended the courage of the judiciary and its resilience even in the face of strenuous efforts to undermine and intimidate it.
According to the former Vice President, the decision of the judiciary on the Osun governorship election is phenomenal in view of the culture of inconclusive elections by INEC in this season.
The judgement has rekindled hope and confidence that those whose mandate had been tampered with or denied could look forward to justice being done to them.
He urged the judiciary to remain steadfast as the eyes of all Nigerians and indeed the whole world were on them to help ensure that democracy in Nigeria was put on a solid foundation.
In a split judgement, the Tribunal nullified the election of Governor Gboyega Oyetola and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately withdraw the Certificate of Return earlier issued to him as winner of the election.
However, the chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo, upheld the whole election.
In the majority Judgement delivered by Justice Peter Obiara, the tribunal set aside the rerun election conducted on September 27, 2018 for being unlawful.
Justice Obiora held that the poll conducted in the seven units is unknown by law because INEC has no power to conduct it.
The tribunal declared Adeleke as the duly elected governor and ordered INEC to immediately issue him with Certificate of Return.
The tribunal agreed that PDP and Adeleke established beyond reasonable doubt that INEC did not comply substantially with the Electoral Act in 17 polling units.
Consequently, over 2,000 votes credited to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Oyetola by INEC were deducted from the tribunal, while over 1,000 votes said to have been scored by the PDP and its candidate were also removed from their total votes.
The majority judgement held that the Returning Officer, who cancelled the result in the affected units after the announcement, had no power to have done so.
Prof. Joseph Fuwape, Vice Chancellor of the University of Technology, Akure was the Returning Officer for the September 22 election
Fuwape said the election was inconclusive because 3498 votes were cancelled as a result of ballot box snatching that occurred in some polling units during the election.
The affected polling units were Ife North, (one polling unit), Ife south, (two polling units), Orolu,( three polling units) and Osogbo, one polling unit.
According to Fuwape, Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 254,698 votes, while Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), scored 254, 345 votes. He thus called for rerun elections at the polling units where results were cancelled.
The majority judgement after deductions of the votes recorded in the rerun poll gave Adeleke’s score as 253,777 and Oyetola’s as 253,476.
In the minority judgment, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo, Chairman of the tribunal, held that the petitioners, PDP and Adeleke, failed to prove how the non-compliance of non-recording in the columns of accredited votes and account of ballots in the result sheets substantially affected the final results.
He further stated that even when non substantial compliance affects the outcome of the election, the tribunal, by virtue of section 140(2) of the Electoral Act, does not have the power to subtract the votes affected by the non-compliance from the scores of the candidates and announce a winner.
According to him the tribunal only has the power to nullify the results of the Polling units affected by the noncompliance and order a supplementary poll.
He concluded that even if the non-compliance was substantial, it was not proved by the petitioners
Earlier, in a ruling on an objection filed against the petition by APC, Oyetola and INEC, the tribunal held that the objection was misconceived and that the tribunal has jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
The objection was consequently dismissed by the tribunal.
Meanwhile, the PDP has hailed the verdict of the Tribunal.
A statement by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the judgement as a victory for democracy and the will of the people.
Ologbondiyan said that the judgement was a clear indicator that no matter how evil and injustice appeared to thrive, the truth must always prevail at the end of the day.
“Nigerians have accepted democracy as a way of life and a form of government that suits the multi-plurality of our nation.
“The spontaneous jubilation that greeted this judgement is, therefore, a direct indication that it is in consonant with the wishes and aspiration of Nigerians across the board.
“For those who have been desperate to destroy our democracy, this judgement has proven to them that their shenanigans will always come to no avail,’’ Ologbondiyan said.
He commended the judiciary for standing upright in the defence of democracy.
“This verdict, which reverberates across our nation, points to the fact that the truth will always prevail.
“It is also an indication that our party, the PDP, will recover all our stolen mandates in the 2019 general elections, particularly, the Presidential mandate, which Nigerians freely gave to our candidate, Abubakar.
“Furthermore, all our candidates who have already won their elections, but whose victories are being manipulated by anti-democratic forces, must take solace in the words of the Osun election petition panel.
“The solace is that once valid votes have been declared and a winner emerges by majority of votes, a rerun is illegal.’’
He congratulated Adeleke, the people of Osun as well as all lovers of democracy across the country for the triumph of justice.
Also, the Yoruba Council of Youths Worldwide (YCYW) hailed the declaration of Adeleke as the winner.
President of the youth group, Aremo Hassan, in a statement entitled “Congratulations To Aare Akinyegun Oodua of Yoruba Land: Sen. Ademola Adeleke, The Executive Governor of Osun State”, described the judgement of the tribunal as a ” true reflection of justice”.
“With sublime heart of joy, we heartily felicitate with His Excellency, Senator Ademola Adeleke, the Governor of Osun State, the good people of Osun State, Yorubaland and Nigeria as a whole, on the special winning today 22nd March, 2019 at the Osun State Election Tribunal.
“This is indeed a true reflection of justice and will of the people. We salute the courage and tenacity of the Adeleke Family to have stood their ground in the face of monumental adversaries and political intimidation, our own Ominira Osun came into reality.
“We want to use this medium to remind His Excellency that this is not the time for Jamboree but real work of progress must commence in earnest in Osun State as promised during campaigns and that assured us on behalf of the Yoruba Council of Youths Worldwide,” he said.
Hassan, a legal practitioner, said that the group advocated 26 per cent education budgetary allocation.
He also urged Adeleke to focus on economic growth of Osun State as the emerging economic hub of the nation, adding that the group remained steadfast as partners in progress on the quest to salvage the state.
